Analysis

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has flown back to the US from the Persian Gulf after the most concerted effort yet to resolve the Saudi-Qatar dispute. He says he is optimistic, but a closer look at the background to the crisis suggests...

In what the United Nations has called the worst humanitarian crisis since the World War II, more than 16 million people in East Africa face the prospect of starvation as a result of conflict, political apathy and drought. These crises are doomed...

Recent international public opinion polls show that US global image has taken a hit since President Donald Trump assumed office. Some of the starkest decline in support has been recorded in traditional Western European allies. However, the ‘new’...

Expectations of the Hamburg G20 were not high, but the summit seems to have achieved even less than anticipated and, for the first time ever, the communiqué was not unanimous. However, if any country came away a winner from the weekend's...

Following the G20 summit, the US and Russia announced a ceasefire agreement in southern Syria, the result of months of closed-door negotiations. This agreement comes just as the UN begins its seventh attempt to broker a peace deal, but what does...

It is a little over a year since the UN Security Council took action to combat sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers. Resolution 2272 offered the first disciplinary mechanism for addressing sexual misconduct, but did it go far enough?
In March...

It appears increasingly likely a nuclear weapons ban treaty will come into effect later this year. Australia has not taken part in negotiations and has been criticised for undermining early discussions. So, what if any change will the agreement...

This week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop visited Cuba to promote Australia’s growing commercial interests in the Caribbean island nation. The visit is a sign of recent advances in Cuban diplomacy.
No longer hampered by the...

Donald Trump's push to repeal many of the Obama administration’s foreign policy initiatives has extended to the landmark lifting of the embargo against Cuba. Will the new hardline approach be effective in achieving its goal of encouraging...

Narendra Modi's visit to Israel this week is the first ever by an Indian prime minister. It's a result of India's pragmatic new foreign policy towards Israel, one based on its strategic interests and no longer dependent on its Palestine...